The Indigo Rose appeared in a flash of light then seemed to shimmer and vanish from sight as Nathrrya had activated the stealth field as she didn't know what she'd find and she wasn't one to take chances when there was no need.
"Where are we now?" Keelu asked she was sat next to the red haired woman helping monitor some of the ship's systems.
"This was once Vaiken Anchorage, the home of the Imperial Fleet." The Sith replied "Had we been here at the height of the Empire you'd have seen almost a thousand ships here awaiting deployment or undergoing refits. It was a very busy place." Nathrrya pointed to something in the distance. "At the heart of the Anchorage was Vaiken Spacedock which we're coming up on now."
"I'm surprised it's still here." Obi-Wan observed looking at the massive structure they were approaching.
"It's seen better days." Nathrrya said looking down at her passive sensor scans "Minimal power, all the defences are down, no surprise there. Hull integrity is all over the place. Well someone's home as I'm picking up life from readings but only in the central ring where the docking bays for the smaller ships like my Fury are located." She looked up just in time to see a flat saucer shaped ship exit one of the docking bays. Its cockpit was mounted off to the side in its own module and had a very distinctive circular sensor dish.
"That's the Millennium Falcon." Keelu said awe in her voice. "It's a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter and is infamous for being a smugglers ship. I've heard stories about her but I never thought I've ever see her."
Nathrrya chuckled as she watched the Falcon make the jump to hyperspace. "It reminds me a little of the Corellian XS light freighters, they were a favourite of smugglers and privateers as well." The Sith grinned remembering an incident on Nar Shaddaa with Vette and a Republic smuggler.
Nathrrya and Vette were having lunch while the Sith was browsing a holonet auction site to see if anything caught her eye.
"Nat, what does family mean to you? Does it have to be the people you're actually related to?" the Twi'lek asked.
Nathrrya looked over at her blue skinned friend a thoughtful expression on her face. "For some Sith bloodlines are all important. It's sickening to see how far some families will go to keep their bloodline alive." She explained "To me family isn't just who I have blood ties too though they are important but I also consider you, Jasea and Quinn family. Tara too."
Vette nodded slowly "That makes sense. My mother and sister will always be the most important. When I was working for Nok Drayen doing the pirate thief thing, he had a daughter my age Risha." The Sith's eyebrows rose in surprise from what Nathrrya had heard about the man it's not something she'd have expected. "It wasn't like Nok was super sweet to her or anything but he'd call her Princess and I wished I was her." Vette admitted with a blush looking down at the table.
"Vette!?" asked a shocked female voice.
Nathrrya looked up as Vette froze in place before she turned in her seat the next moment the Twi'lek was on her feet and hugging a dusky skinned human woman. "Risha, I thought you were dead where have you been all these years?" Vette asked excitedly.
"That's… quite a story, Vette one we should have privacy for." Risha said eyeing the red haired woman with unease.
"Nat?" Vette asked hopefully.
"Go, enjoy yourself Vette, you know where to find me." Nathrrya said waving the two women off.
As the two reunited childhood friends walked away Risha asked "Who's your friend Nat?"
Vette gave her an impish grin "Oh just the most unsithy Sith you'll ever meet."
"Nathrrya?" Obi-Wan asked concerned
The Sith shook herself "Sorry just remembering happier times." She said looking out at Vaiken Spacedock a frown forming on her face "Now what to do about the unwanted occupants." Nathrrya mused before she sighed. "It'll have to wait until I have the lost fleet." She looked sideways at Jedi padawan. "You didn't hear that did you?"
"Hear what?" Obi-Wan replied innocently knowing full well he'd heard something he wasn't supposed to.
The Sith smirked "Good you're learning. It's not that I don't trust you Obi-Wan, I do but the less you know the less the Council can get out of you."
The padawan nodded at that for it made sense "Then we'll be parting company soon I take it?" he asked not liking the idea all that much.
"Yes once we've finished on Dromund Kaas I'll have to find a way to send you back to Coruscant while Keelu and I go and find the lost fleet." Nathrrya smiled sadly "I'm going to miss your company Obi-Wan."
"Was there anything else here?" Keelu asked trying to distract the two force users.
Nathrrya frowned as she thought about the question. "Yes there should be shipyard and dry dock facilities further in system. Those could come in handy if they can be made operational assuming they're still here." She said thinking aloud. "Still that can wait I want to get to Dromund Kaas."
Moments later the still invisible Indigo Rose moved away from Vaiken Spacedock before it briefly became visible before making the jump to hyperspace.
Mandalorian bounty hunter Kelborn Ordo scowled as he entered yet another very seedy bar looking for someone who was proving harder to find than he thought. Considering what the person Kelborn was looking for had endured this wasn't that surprising.
Kelborn's luck was with him as he spotted his quarry in the far corner. The bounty hunter carefully made his way over and slid into the vacant seat in front of the person he'd been looking for.
"You're a hard man to track down Fett." Ordo stated bluntly.
Jango Fett smiled slightly "I tend to live longer that way." he leaned back in his seat "What do you want Ordo?"
"I had an interesting encounter with a Darjetii." Kelborn replied.
Fett's eyebrows rose "Darjetii? I thought they'd all been killed long ago by the jetii."
Ordo shrugged "So did most of the galaxy. This one's spent the last three thousand years in carbonite. How she's still alive after all this time is a mystery."
Jango looked shrewdly at the man across the table "Do you know what her plans are?"
"Nothing as grand as galactic conquest if that's what you're asking." Kelborn said "There's something big happening and I'm not going to pretend I understand half of it but Nathrrya is trying to gather allies where she can as she's just one person even if she knows the location of a lost imperial fleet." Ordo leaned forward "Jango you've got to let go of what happened on Galidraan. Death Watch played the Jetii just as much as they played us. Nathyrra is giving us a chance to rebuild the Mandalorian people. We can reclaim our honour and when the time is right hunt down and eliminate the stain that is Death Watch."
Jango looked Kelborn in the eyes and saw the truth displayed there. "I'm in."
"Welcome to Dromund Kaas once the capitol of the Sith Empire." Nathrrya said piloting the ship through the stormy atmosphere.
"What are you looking for Nathrrya?" Obi-Wan asked.
"A landmark that I'll recognise, after so long none of the landing bacons are active. I'm almost flying blind." the Sith replied keeping her eyes on the landscape outside. "Aha! I know where we are now." she said pointing to a truly large statue of a Sith Lord "That is was I knew as the unfinished colossus. It was started by Lord Qet to honour his master Darth Vowrawn. However Sith politics being what it was my master at the time Darth Baras took exception to it and instigated a slave rebellion which would take years to deal with, idiot. I had to deal with Baras' mess that was... eventful." Nathrrya explained with a fond smile. "More to the point is that I know where we are in relation to Kaas City."
"Welcome to Kass City." Nathrrya said as she opened her arms wide. "Hart of the Empire."
Obi-Wan and Keelu looked around the darkened city uneasily as it brought a new meaning to the phrase ghost town. The buildings and streets seemed almost new all that was lacking were lights and people.
"Something isn't right, Nathrrya." Obi-Wan said after a while.
"I agree." the Sith let out a sigh. "We're on a jungle planet but there's no sign of encroachment. Apart from the lack of the obvious Kass City looks like it did the last time I was here."
"We're not alone are we?" Keelu asked looking around "So where are we headed?"
Nathrrya frowned "No we're probably not." wondering what it could mean. "As to where we're going..." the Sith pointed across the valley that split the city in two. "That's our destination, the Sith Citadel whatever the others left for me is most likely in there."
"It's purple." Keelu blurted on seeing the ship that was in the hanger they'd discovered locked down however Nathrrya had no problems overriding the lockdown with her security clearance. To the young woman the ship seemed to be similar in size to the YT-1300 freighter but the purple monstrosity before her was clearly built for war.
"It's violet." the Sith replied with a huff. Nathrrya had lead them through the Sith Citadel pointing out some of the chambers used by various Sith Lords as well as retelling some amusing story or other she'd heard. But it's when they'd come across the locked down hanger things had gotten interesting as it seemed to be the only thing that had any power which was odd to say the least.
"So this is your Fury that you've talked about?" Obi-Wan asked looking at the brightly coloured ship.
Nathrrya nodded as she slowly walked towards her ship raising her hand to run it along the hull plating. "I never thought to see the Violet Rose ever again but here she sits... Come on let's get aboard as answers lie within."
The shocks just kept coming for Nathrrya once they were aboard the Violet Rose as they soon encountered Casavir's astromech droid T7-01, he'd been tending to and keeping the Rose safe all this time. The Sith was surprised that the little astromech was still functioning after so long. The cheeky droid had hinted there was quite a story behind it but wasn't telling.
But it was the five items that were placed on the holotable that had Nathrrya struggling to keep her emotions in check. Vette's two custom heavy blasters that the Sith had gifted the former slave so long ago. Over the years Vette had modified them even more. Next to the blasters were Kira and Jaesa's sabrestaffs as Nathrrya would recognise those weapons anywhere but it was the datapad that had the Sith curious and on guard as it felt dark.
Nathrrya picked the pad up and turned to face Obi-Wan and Keelu. "You're free to explore the rest of the ship but don't touch anything. I'm going to go to my state room and view this datapad in private."
The Sith sat cross legged on her bed It took a while for the old datapad to work properly, considering the amount of years that have gone by but at last an image began to flicker as the datapad activated. Nathrrya patiently waited until the image was clear and her eyes widened. Kneeling in front of the datapad was the last person she ever expected to see again, and yet here she was, watching the image of Tara - the girl she helped to mentor though her Sith trials and training, the girl she had innumerable shenanigan-filled missions and mis-adventures with…
The only other person she trusted with her life and considered family. K'Natara Synge.
But this Tara looked very different. She didn't seem like the girl she remembered from all that time ago. The last time Nathrrya ever saw the girl was when they had an all-out brawl that seemed to have shattered the trust and love they had for one another. Nathrrya remembered that all too well and it still hurt her deep in her heart that that was how they parted. But that Tara was healthy, rounded out, her body lean and muscular where it needed to be with her chosen discipline. This Tara… this one was lanky, dark, tired looking.
And her eyes were red with the Dark Side of the Force. She had on ripped ceremonial robes, her arms and any exposed skin showed red welts and cuts. Even her once-lush dark hair was unkempt and stringy. For all intents and purposes it looked like Tara was a walking skeleton and the Dark Side had been eating her alive for a while. It's just like what Casavir said.
"Oh kriff, Tara what happened to you…."
"This has to be… I guess this has to be my final say in all of this. I don't know that this'll get to whom it's intended for, but regardless I have something that I need to say and say once and for all. Nathrrya… if you find this, I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what happened on Ziost, I'm sorry for attacking you on the Orbital Station. I'm sorry for being weak-minded and allowing things to get this far."
There was a moment's pause where Tara seemed to turn her head to the side as if she was listening to someone off screen. But Tara closed her eyes and shook her head like Nathrrya saw her do so many times before when Tara struggled with the Dark Side. When Tara opened her eyes again her eyes were back to green, the only thing besides her Force abilities that she acquired from her mother, Darth Nox. Everything else about her screamed Malavai Quinn.
"I'm so sorry Nat. I know you have to have found the other holocrons by now. I'm sure they were made by your cousin and some of the others. You know I hate them but this was the only avenue I could take to somehow ease this horrifying burden I have for what I've done, for what I'm about to do. I don't know if you will even find this forsaken thing….
"Things didn't go well after you disappeared, Nat. When I was told that you and Darth Marr were attacked I only nodded. Father told me. He wanted me to help him find you, he was hoping that I still cared enough to come and assist him in locating where you'd gone. I refused. I bluntly refused and told him to never talk to me about you again. I was still so bitter about what happened on Ziost, how things were just finally starting to smooth out between my mother and I and then you let her get consumed by the Emperor." Tara clenched her fists and her eyes shined golden for a second before returning to green. Nathrrya could see the struggle she was going through to try and remain conscious of what she was saying.
"After he left Leyland tried to talk to me about it. Nat, I married him and tried to give up my lightsaber for him and our daughter. I even named her after you, because I promised myself if I ever got lucky enough to have a child that she would know all about her namesake. All she knows is that I knew you and you had done a lot in the galaxy. She was so proud of her name then. Rrya was her name. Rrya Ordo. Leyland was so soft after she was born." There was a brief smile at the memory.
"For a while we managed to get along on our own. What was happening in the galaxy didn't affect us right away. It wasn't until the Eternal Fleet came to Dantooine and basically ransacked the place that things started to get heavy. Arcann and his sister came to our hut. He made the demand to join him or die. This was before the Mandalorians joined up with the Alliance, and we didn't know. And you know how we are about tyrants, so naturally we said no.
"Nat, I had never seen someone so… so deep in the Dark Side before. Not like this. I thought I was bad and beyond hope but he was so seeped in it I could barely concentrate and I could feel myself slipping into it as well. In fact, I had. Vaylin killed Leyland with a twist of her hand without any warning. Rrya screamed - we had her hiding but no child should see that, and she had. Vaylin… she…"
Tara lowered her head and her hands gripped more to the point that Nathrrya could see blood coming through her fingers.
"I don't remember how I escaped with my child. I just did and the next thing I knew I was galvanized with the rest of the Mandalorians under Mandalore's call. Shae Vizla was Mandalore and I followed her call. Adannah was there with Torian, of course, and we were doing all we could to stop Arcann and Vaylin. It was then that I met up with Casavir again. Without even knowing he felt what I'd gone through. After we did what needed to be done on Dantooine he talked me into coming back to the Alliance with him. Against everything I held dear to me, everything I cherished and honored, I had no idea why I did what I did. And I asked him if it had to be because of you. And I asked him if they found you yet and he said no.
"I almost said no to him, too. First father, then him. Nathrrya… I was so lost and confused and in so much pain that I couldn't think anymore. Casavir could feel the Dark Side starting to overwhelm me again. Apparently you told him enough about me that he was able to help a little bit. Not like you could… far from it, but it helped and Mandalore eventually told me that I needed to go with him. She told me what Leyland had told her - 'You have always been Sith. You are a Sister in the clans and you will always be known as a member of Clan Ordo, but that is where you belong.'
"So, Rrya and I went with Casavir and I found a place in the Alliance where I could be useful. Granted, my temper was unmatched and your cousin had to keep me so busy that I stayed out of trouble. And I wasn't allowed to go on missions alone. Theron or Lana had to come with me to keep me in check. Shana Rae had to help me focus every night in the Force Enclave to try and keep the Dark Side at bay as much as possible. But let's face it, I was only there because Cas thought I could help them. I did, for a while, but little by little, battle after battle, I was slowly sinking into the pit that you worked so hard to keep me out of. You were my anchor. You and Leyland both were my anchor to this world and gave me reason and purpose for living and moving on. I lost you, I lost him, and I lost my sense of where I was."
The datapad suddenly faded out and Nathrrya leaned forward and picked it up. There had to be more to it than that! She fidgeted with the device for a few minutes before it reactivated. Time had apparently gone by as Tara now had thick black rings around her eyes and her clothes were much more tattered. Her body was severely emaciated by this point and Tara was leaning against something, trying to keep herself up. But Nathrrya saw what the girl was leaning against. It had glyphs of immense power etched into its surface.
Only once did Nathrrya ever see those glyphs in person, and only in one very specific location: Oricon. The location of the Dread Fortress. It was just as Jaesa had told her. Tara had disappeared after she was exiled and six months later there was a disturbance on Oricon.
"They turned their backs on me, too," her image said. She sounded weak, her voice wasn't that clear tone Nathrrya was used to hearing. It was raspy, desperately holding on. Nathrrya's heart ached thinking that this was her death message. "All of them...even my own blood. They said it was destiny, that this was what was laid out for me from the beginning. I tried to ignore them, but more and more I felt the pain. Arcann… I remember the first night with him. Rrya liked him a lot, and Senya took to her like I'd never seen anyone care for my child. Things were fine for a while but you were still gone, Nat. You never came back, you were gone and I tried going out to find you. Arcann… tried to help me. He tried so valiantly and honestly but he, too, turned away from me and told your cousin I had to be kicked out. I couldn't stay there anymore….
"My daughter…. Nathrrya, she was taken away from me too. Senya held her back when Casavir told me to leave, told me that I was deteriorating and there was nothing more they could do to help me. So I left. I took a ship and I left and I drifted for weeks out in Open Space. But I needed more power, I needed to get you back, and the only way to do that was to siphon the only power I had and the Dark Side called to me." The image of Tara smiled a smile so freakishly ghoulish that Nathrrya shuddered. She wasn't listening to Tara anymore. This was just a shadow of the Tara she knew. She truly had fallen to the Dark Side and what her cousin and former apprentice said made more sense now that she was witnessing it all for herself.
"I'm nearly complete with my plan. Months now I have been working to harness this energy, I have place my life in the hands of the power on Oricon and within the Dread Fortress. First, I'm going back. I'm going to show them that I can find you, but I'm going to show how turning their backs on me was the wrong thing to do. I'll waste them, and then I'll find you, and maybe I'll waste you too, Nat. Or, for my sake… what's left of me…"
Tara looked directly at the camera in the datapad to look directly at Nathrrya. One heartbeat, two heartbeats…. Three…
"End my suffering, Nat. When I find you, when I release you… please, end ME. Only you would be able to, anyway. You are the Emperor's Wrath - the strongest Sith in the galaxy."
The image of Tara reached back and touched the glyphs with her hand. Dark Side energy swirled around her hand and seemed to give Tara the strength she needed to stand up, to the point where she hovered off the ground a few inches. She called for her lightsaber and activated it, her eyes not even red with the Dark Side anymore.
They were solid black. Something Nathrrya had never seen before. And it was clear at that moment that Tara was no longer Tara. At that moment the datapad had cut out and there weren't any more entries. She dropped the device and sat there, hunched over and piecing together what happened after that entry and where she had gone… and what she had done…Who she had killed. Even her own daughter didn't stand a chance. She had effectively become a Dread Master, and they were the essence of the Dark Side as it was. Tara embodied that and there was no going back after what she had done to herself on Oricon. But, a small sliver peaked through, like Casavir said. That part of Tara that was Nathrrya came through and was the only thing that saved her from death in that moment.
"What became of her?" Obi-Wan asked softly from the doorway.
The Sith looked up sharply wondering how long he'd been there. "Imprisoned, in stasis."
"Do you know where?" the Jedi asked as he sat beside her on the bed.
Nathrrya nodded "Yes but I won't go anywhere near there until after Sidious is dealt with. If he got so much as an idea of who or rather what was imprisoned he'd be foolish enough to go there and free her. The results of that do not bare thinking about."
Nathrrya looked at her engagement ring sat on her bedside table right where she'd left it the fateful day she'd boarded Marr's flagship. She picked it up turning it over with her fingers.
"The day we were ambushed by the Eternal Fleet I hadn't put this on as I was annoyed with Quinn about something." She said feeling tears starting to roll down her cheeks.
"It's okay to grieve." Obi-Wan spoke softly.
The dam burst. Nathrrya began to weep openly for what she'd lost. Friends, family and a life she'd never have again.
Obi-Wan trusting his instincts gently put his arms around the emotional woman pulling her into a hug. He was mildly surprised when Nathrrya reciprocated by snaking her arms around his chest and leaning her head into his shoulder. He was uncertain how long they sat there Nathrrya softly weeping releasing all her pain grief and sadness while he provided support.
Obi-Wan turned his head slightly to look at the woman's face smiling faintly when he realised that Nathrrya had fallen asleep her breathing steady and even. This left him with a predicament for he now had a woman who was sound asleep using him as a pillow. If only the Council saw us now. He thought with amusement.
Obi-Wan understood that Nathrrya must trust him a great deal to completely let her guard down to fall asleep due to mental exhaustion as she'd been on quite an emotional journey walking through her Fury and finding reminders of her past life. Vette's blasters, Jaesa and Kira's sabrestaffs, Casavir's droid T7-01, Quinn's engagement ring and Tara's datapad.
Deep in the recesses of his mind something fell into place for Obi-Wan. The realisation that he, Obi-Wan Kenobi, padawan of the Jedi Order was falling in love with Nathrrya, Sith Lord. The young man smiled he was okay with that.
